The two Ford drivers engaged in a bruising battle throughout the day’s second 37-lap sprint race, which began with Mostert beating Kostecki off the line.
Kostecki retook the lead on Lap 18, at the end of which both Mustang drivers dived to pit lane for their compulsory stop.
The DJR driver survived a brush with the wall at pit entry and emerged from the stops with his lead intact.
They traded positions back and forth early in the second stint, in an entertaining battle which effectively ended when Mostert forced Kostecki wide at the exit of Turn 5, 16 laps from home.
Mostert went on to win while Kostecki limped home third behind teammate Will Davison.
“Bit unfortunate, it was a bit of front to rear [contact] and then blew my right-rear out,” said Kostecki post-race.
“She’s missing a few spokes and I’m actually surprised I hung on that far.”
“It happened with Chaz unfortunately,” Kostecki added of the damage from a battle in which stewards did not intervene. “I’m a bit surprised by it.
“Boxing has three judges for a reason so we’ll just have to see, I suppose. If it looks good for TV, they just let it play on.”
KOSTECKI AND MOSTERT TRADE BLOWS 🥊💥
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Asked to clarify if he was unhappy with the lack of action from officials, Kostecki said: “It’s just different every time, in my opinion.
“If it looks great on TV and both cars continue, it’s fine – but it destroyed my car, so it sort of took me out of the race.”
Mostert said he’d already committed to the corner when Kostecki turned in, putting the two on a collision course.
“I was setting up a move at [Turn] 4, he was saving his tyre, but as I went to commit into 4 I just didn’t expect him to come hard right and I already committed,” he explained.
“I didn’t want to end up like that. But then he got the nose back into me and I thought, ‘alright, well fair’s fair, and then I saw him race along from there.
“Obviously he had a bit of damage and went back. You don’t want to race like that, but glad to hang on for the win. We probably didn’t have the car of those two behind us.”
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